Grace Zamudio adds to honor roll with Loyola Marymount

ARCHIVE PHOTO: After dominating with Glendale Community College, Grace Zamudio has gone on to lead Loyola Marymount.

ARCHIVE PHOTO: After dominating with Glendale Community College, Grace Zamudio has gone on to lead Loyola Marymount. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)

Grant Gordon

The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.

Grace Zamudio (Glendale Community College, 2013) Loyola Marymount cross-country junior: After an All-American season as a sophomore at Glendale Community College, accolades are certainly nothing new to Zamudio.

But, she added more honors to her resume on Tuesday when she was named the West Coast Conference Women’s Cross-Country Runner of the Month for September.

In four races thus far, Zamudio has come across the finish line first for Loyola Marymount.

During her first month of NCAA action, she took part in three races that resulted in two first-place finishes and one of eighth place.

On Aug. 31 at the Mark Covert Classic in Brea, Zamudio took the top spot in 17 minutes 45. 5 seconds, winning by nearly eight seconds.

Next up, Zamudio won at the WCC Preview on Sept. 14, as did the Lions, as they won their first two races with Zamudio leading the way. She finished the 6K race in 20:50.9.

Two weeks later at the Stanford Invitational, Zamudio took eighth to lead LMU to a third-place finish. Zamudio crossed the finish line in 21:37.

Most recently, Zamudio took 14th overall and first on her squad at the Chile Pepper Invitational in Arkansas on Saturday. Zamudio finished the 5K in 17:38.8.

LMU returns to the course on Saturday for the Vanguard Invitational in Costa Mesa.

Alyssa Selve (Glendale Community College, 2012) Adams State cross-country senior: Having provided a pivotal role in GCC claiming a state title in 2011, Selve is aiding the Grizzlies in their run to team glory, as well.

Selve took fourth overall as Adams State turned in a perfect score of 15 points at the Joe I. Vigil Open in Colorado on Sept. 8 and then took sixth among Adams State runners and 131st overall at the Roy Griak meet in Minnesota on Sept. 28. Adams State took 11th in a field of NCAA Division I squads. Selve finished in 18:21.23 on Sept. 7 and in 23:08 on Sept. 28.

Next up for Selve and the Grizzlies is the Fort Hays State University Tiger Open on Saturday.

Alexa Montgomery (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2012) Arizona soccer sophomore: One of Flintridge Sacred Heart’s most talented defenders in program lore, Montgomery has earned a spot for herself in the Wildcats’ starting lineup and has also scored her first-ever NCAA goal.

In a 6-1 rout of Southern Utah at home in Tucson, Montgomery was part of the scoring avalanche, heading in an unassisted tally in the 57th minute that was the fifth straight goal to begin the match for Arizona.

Montgomery came off the bench the first three games of the season, as she’s played in all 12 games, and has been a mainstay in the starting defensive backfield for the last nine matches, starting all but two.

Arizona began the season with a 4-0-3 run, but has now lost four of five matches and three in a row, all of the last three coming in Pacific-12 Conference play as the Wildcats sit at 5-4-3 and 0-3 in conference. Arizona will resume conference play Friday when it travels to Oregon State. On Sunday, Montgomery will head home to Southern California where she will play at USC against former Tologs teammates Katie Johnson and Kayla Mills.

Chris Cabrera (St. Francis High, 2010) Cal Lutheran football senior: Cabrera and Cal Lu got their first win of the season Saturday, opening up Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 42-7 win over Pomona-Pitzer.

Cabrera tallied 4.5 tackles in the win and currently shares the team-high of 17 tackles for the Kingsmen, who are 1-2 and will continue conference play against Redlands at home on Saturday.

Cabrera, who has 13 solo tackles and eight assists, also has three tackles for loss.

Savannah Viola (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2013) New Mexico soccer freshman: Less than a year removed from an All-Area season at Flintridge Sacred Heart, Viola is starting at New Mexico and helping the squad to its current first-place showing in the Western Athletic Conference.

New Mexico (5-7-1) is 3-0 in the WAC heading into Sunday’s conference match against Wyoming.

Viola has played in 12 of 13 matches and started 11.

Her first-ever NCAA goal came Sept. 6 against Rice in a 3-0 victory. It came via a 52-yard free kick that passed over the goalie’s head in the 68th minute.

Viola is joined on the team by fellow Flintridge Sacred Heart graduate Tera Trujillo. Trujillo has a goal scored in seven games with three starts. Trujillo’s score came in the same game against Rice. It was also off a free kick, as she touched in a kick from outside the box in the 87th minute.